Inquisition of Kanjor
L'Inquisition de Kanjor (the Inquisition of Kanjor) was the ecclesiastical tribunal set up by the Holy Apostolic Hosian Church of Terra in late 1204 during the series of conflicts that came to be known as the Holy Wars of Kanjor to eliminate the Agathiste heresy of the Archbishop of Kanjo and the Numineux Valley which was headed by the Boullée family. Grand Inquisitor Geoffroy Maury Ladurie organized and headed the tribunals which, at their height, numbered as many as 300. An estimated 250,000 people would become victims of the inquisition; including two kings, two princes, one duke, nearly all the nobility, the entire clergy of the mainland of Kanjor, and thousands of average people. The few surviving Agathistes fled to Alduria, which became the religion's new stronghold. Prelude - during the First Theocracy there was a complete synthesis of Holy Apostolic Hosian Church of Terra into society - Church gained great power; people looked to Major Archbishop (Archevêque principal) who was chosen by the Arch-Patriarch of the Church - Major Archbishop ruled as mini-arch-patriarch over nobles & monarchs alike; engaged in politics, appointed kings, queens, nobles & lesser nobles; extreme nepotism - line of Archbishops began to carve out a de facto kingdom; began interpreting Bible and so forth against Church's current thinking; revived old ideas (ie Nonbinitarian and Demiurge) in order to build up power; Agathism emerges as distinct denomination - Archbishop booted out of Isle for heresy; Bishops on Isle banded together against Archbishop; sent famous letter (Lettre du Conseil de vingt) to Arch-Patriarch stating abuses of power & heresy of Archbishop & reasons for the council's actions against the Archbishop; also called for Crusade to bring Archbishop down - Arch-Patriarch reacted by granting Crusade; convincing good Hosian nations to join; but Isle was most enthusiastic; precipated into a series of Holy Wars Purpose - to eradicate the Agathiste teachings of the Archbishop and his followers. - Church was in trouble Inquisition Grand Inquisitor Geoffroy Maury Ladurie - Geoffroy Maury Ladurie was the Bishop of l'Ome; member of Council of Bishops in their call to end rule of Archbishop - was quiet, deeply-devout and harsh man; believed in the destruction of all heretics - said to have "the piercing eyes of a hawk" that "flamed with fire upon the very utterance of heretics" - when the Crusade began, the Arch-Patriarch asked for a leading Bishop to reside over the trial of the Archbishop; Ladurie's name was presented and he was granted powers to create a tribunal - newly-caputred Abbey of Saint-Ayr Vanles was used as first headquarters; the grounds of the abbey were turned into a prison holding captured clergy, nobles, and commoners - Ladurie was an obssessed prosecutor who made certain that all evidence was compiled on every major trial; eventually trained own several teams of investigators & archivers to put all evidence together for every trial no matter how small Preparation & Trials - first to be put on trial was Julien-Eustache Lambert, the Prince-Évêque (Prince-Bishop) of Saint-Ayr Vanles and several of his closest aids; trial presided over by Council of Bishops and Nobles chosen from the Isle; Ladurie prosecuted this himself; last one week in which Ladurie cited evidence ranging from documented decrees from the Prince-Bishop supporting the Archbishop, written sermons he had preached, as well as coerced confessions from his colleagues - in beginning of trials, most were found guilty and sentenced to death (with the addition of those testifiers who were prosecuted in the years after the trial) Use of Torture - Ladurie never had nobles or high-ranking heretical clergy physically harmed saying "their true pain will come from God"; instead he relied on testimony of others, often family members and close colleagues of the accused, which were often coerced through threat of prosecution and/or physical torture; which not only mentioned the accused but also was a confession of the testifier - Ladurie kept tabs on all heretics who also had testified; after all high-ranking heretics had been eliminated; he turned on every single one by bringing them to trial using their own coerced testimony against them; as a result, thousands were killed after they had believed themselves to have been pardoned - however, Ladurie 'commuted' their sentences to the "quick death by the axe rather than the slow and agonizing death of the stake and flame" The Trial of Archbishop Jérôme Boullée V of Kanjo - after siege of Kanjo, Archbishop found to have escaped & remains unknown to this day what happened to him & family; many have gone on quests to try and find where he went & so forth - Church was afraid that he would reemerge and cause problems; simply uttering the title of "Archbishop of Kanjo" was enough to be tried for heresy - given individual trial in absentia; lasted 15 days, 14 of prosecution evidence, one day of defense & two hours for a verdict and sentencing of death - found guilty of charges ranging from "misleading the flock", "establishing the practice of worship false gods & idols", and "vehemently suspect of heresy" to "theft of property of the Church", "falsifying Church documents", and "desecrating the Holy Bible through its misinterpretation" - warrant for arrest and execution were distributed in all areas of Terra where the Church held control bu Archbishop was never arrested nor found - because of his & his family's disappearance, the "Hidden Patriarch" heresy continued to flourish throughout Martois & Oléri-des-Grâces for decades; especially in Chevènement - oddly enough, with no one to execute, the Church investigated the preceding two Archbishops and found their words guilty of heresy, they were disinterred and burned at the stake in lieu of the Jérôme Boullée V; the actions of all Archbishops going back to the year 1050 were reviewed and the last eight were purged and their ideas deemed heretical Later Trials - trials continued for years; smallest were King Antoine VIII of Chevènement and Rienne and King Guy III of Roussillion who had single trials; the largest was the Tribunal of Briand in which 734 from the House of Briand were tried, all were found guilty but were all rehabilitated en mass but were stripped of any title, land, and forced to maintain shaved heads (men & women) and wear the red cercle de la honte (circle of shame) on their clothing until their "shame had been lifted by the Lord upon their deaths" - in beginning of trials, most were found guilty and sentenced to death (with the addition of those testifiers who were prosecuted in the years after the trial) - toward the end, most trials still had guilty verdicts but were often commuted to "lives of shame" rather than death Reaction of the Peasantry - peasantry in eastern Oléri-des-Grâces area of Chevènement proved the hardest to re-convert & over one-third of them were killed by military forces - most peasantry did not oppose efforts at re-conversion; however, debate still rages as to whether these people continued heretical worship in secret, at least during their lifetimes and possibly the next generation; many peasants fled the Inquisition and found refuge in Alduria - Aftermath - destroyed the nobility of the mainland; left them open to the title's adoption by lower noble immigrants from the Isle or lower "clean" nobles of the mainland - the destruction of the nobility led to larger holdings for new nobles which meant that most of them and their subjects had the makings of loyalty to the modern-day regions; had the unexpected consequence of unifying the mainland into several large possessions as opposed to the dozens before, and in contrast to the many possessions found on the Isle - there was a depressed economy after the wars and the inquisition due to the loss of materials, money, and of course population; this solidified the large holdings because the "clean" nobles on the mainland needed more people and more land in order to acquire the necessary revenue - ironically, it also allowed for the freedom for Yeudis; population losses were so great in several areas that the nobles imported Yeudis and immigrants from the Isle to fill in their cities and provide the much needed labor and revenue; in the Chevènement area of Oléri-des-Grâces Yeudis were allowed to form farming communities unlike all other parts of the mainland and the Isle - Holy Apostolic Hosian Church of Terra was firmly in charge after inquisition; grandmothers from this time onward would keep their grandchildren in line with threats that Bishop Ladurie would get them if they continued in their naughtiness - set the stage for the only major "clean" noble house on the mainland, the House of Audierne to slowly build a power base and eventually ascend to the throne of a unified Kanjor Category:Kanjor Category:History